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Published: April 28th 2010
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In Airlie Beach we did the unthinkable.....finalized plans for the rest of Australia as we only had 3 weeks left. It was strange actually having a plan but at least we knew we would have enough time to do everything we wanted.
Airlie is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. another 'must do' on the East coast, so we opted for a one day cruise around the islands, with snorkeling on the fringe reef. Unfortunately neither of us have good sea legs, and once again Dan threw up! It spoiled the journey on the boat as neither of us could appreciate the scenery, but once we stopped for the snorkeling, we began enjoying ourselves. The reef was beautiful, lost of coral and huge schools of fish, and we were luck enough the spot a giant Sea Turtle which was the highlight of our time. After snorkeling we went to an island for a walk through the bush. We saw the most enormous spider (about the size of a hand) leap from it's web to catch a fly, wrap it up and then eat it. It was very cool although the initial movement caused a few screams! We had a walk
down the famous Whitehaven beach, then returned to Airlie.
Heading up the coast our next stop was Townsville, where we caught a ferry to magnetic island. Straight after arriving Julia booked onto do a 'Bush and Beach' horse trek. She had never rode a horse before and found it pretty scary to start with, but was trotting and cantering along through the bush in no time. The scenery was beautiful, there were butterflies everywhere, and even a few wild kangaroos. After the ride through the trees we reached the beach, where we donned on our stinger suits and took the horses for a swim. It was a really amazing afternoon.
The following day we hires a topless Moke so we could better explore the island. It was great feeling the wind in our hair as we drove around the small island, on the way stopping to watch wild rock wallabies, and walk up to an old fort. That evening we saw the most amazing sunset over the beach.
Our bus journey from Townsville to Mission Beach was quite long, made worse by a connecting bus being late, a blown headlight and a terrible movie. Eventually we made
it Treehouse YHA, which as the name suggests is built like a huge tree house in the rainforest. While at mission Beach it rained A LOT, so we didn't do much except play board games and lie in sheltered hammocks reading books. During a small sunny period Julia even managed a quick swim in the pool.
We've now done our final Greyhound destination, to the famous port town of Cairns. The highlight of our time in Cairns was a diving/snorkeling day-trip on the Great Barrier Reef. We'd been looking forward to it for ages, so when the day arrived we were up bright and early, hired underwater digital camera in hand ready for our introductory scuba diving lessons. Unfortunately, upon completion of the medical declaration on the boat Julia was told she couldn't do diving as she was asthmatic, so had a day of snorkeling instead.
We were taken to two different reefs, and we spent a couple of hours at each. The first had loads of huge fish, and was the site of Dan's first scuba lesson. As it was his first proper dive (other than in an English quarry) he had to hold the instructors arm
at all times to ensure his safety while he got used to the gear. At the second site, which had much more colourful coral, loads of schools of tiny fish, and an enormous Maori Wrasse fish names Wally, Dan had his second dive. This time he was allowed to swim freely (near the instructor), and was lucky enough to see a giant sea clam, a clown (nemo) fish, and even a reef shark. We both really enjoyed the day, and feel we were very lucky to see such an amazing place.
As we only have 1 week left in Australia now, we have decided to hire a campervan and explore a bit on our own for our final week.
Love Julia and Dan xxx
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lee rizvi
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Awesome Airlie Whitsunday
gorgeous photos Julia and Dan well done. How was Airlie on the lovely north east coast of QLD? do not miss it one bit, but can see why tourists do. Living there different thing all together.. ..:0) well take care my friends godspeed you to your next port of call